“There are only two ways to live your life.
One as though nothing is a miracle.
The other as though everything is.”
Albert Einstein
I think Professor Einstein hit the nail on the head with this one.
The other day I saw an earthworm on the patio and a memory came to mind of a morning when my daughters were young. We were on the way to school and we came across an earthworm making its way, ever so slowly, across the pavement.
My youngest daughter who was about three at the time, was mesmerised and hunkered down to watch.
The school bell was calling us to hurry up and so off we had to go – with only one of us aware that we had just witnessed a miracle.
‘Oh that’s just an earthworm’ we say – like there’s nothing special about it.
Last week I watched a documentary about the air rescue team in Zermatt, Switzerland – I was struck by the beauty of the area, the sheer scale of the mountains from a birds-eye view. Absolutely breath-taking.
They pull up a man who has fallen 100 feet down inside a crevasse in the glacier and all he has is a scratch on his face.
‘Wow, that’s a miracle’ we say.
It’s a miracle that those mountains exist in all their glory, it’s a miracle that we have helicopters that can fly in such volatile conditions, that there are pilots and crew who are so skilled and focused.
It’s a miracle that earthworms work their way through the soil breaking down things like grass and leaves – they turn the soil allowing more air and water in. It’s a miracle that their castings are a fertiliser for the plants – the plants which grow into food to eat, flowers and trees to be appreciated.
The three-year old recognised the miracle taking place right in front of her and she stopped to appreciate it.
What if the common-place is actually miraculous?
Have you stopped to watch an earthworm recently?